12.28.2013

I just finished a commissioned watercolor for some very kind folks who recently had to move away from our little town of Moscow, Idaho. The house is on Hayes Street, and once they had painted it this color several years ago, it became known as "Purple Hayes." They're fans of my work, and asked if I could do a piece for them - in their words, "to document, in a real and personal way, our time in this lovely home." This watercolor wasn't completed in a single sitting, and it wasn't done exclusively on-site, but it's the result of several visits to sketch and experiment with various points of view, and to figure out how to get that purple color, especially because I've effectively reduced my palette to just three colors. It helped to think in layers ... the first pass being more heavy on the alizarin crimson, then adding a light glaze of ultramarine blue. Commissioned drawings like this aren't a regular thing for me, but I could see doing them more often - particularly when it involves a meaningful place like this. Please feel free to let me know if you're interested.

I teach architecture at the University of Idaho - design studios, architectural graphics courses, and a professional practice course. One of my passions outside of teaching ... and music, and plants, and mycology, and ... is observing and understanding the world through sketching with various media, such as pencil, pen, charcoal and watercolor. Passing along the same skill and interest to students is a goal I've pursued through my teaching here in Moscow, Idaho, and through an 8-week study-abroad program in Rome each summer.